Portia in The Merchant of Venice Essay

Decent Essays
Improved Essays
Superior Essays
Great Essays
Brilliant Essays
    Page 1 of 11 - About 108 Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The play, The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare, is set in the city of Venice. The main characters all struggle with the conflict of money. One of the main characters, Portia, is a wealthy Princess in Belmont. Her dead father, created a system in which Portia’s suitors must choose the correct chest in order to marry her; Bassanio choose the correct chest and wins Portia hand in marriage and her money. Bassanio is in debt and needs money in order to save the life of his friend Antonio. Throughout the story, each character constantly struggles with power. Portia starts off the play with no power as a result of her father 's instructions on how she has to marry, which bothers Portia a great deal because she has no say in who she can marry.…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Portia in ‘Merchant of Venice one of the strongest and wisest characters found in William Shakespeare’s play. In this tragic comedy, Portia uses her creativity and wit to save the life of her husband’s best friend, Antonio. Portia’s father has passed, leaving her with a stunning inheritance. This beautiful, wealthy bachelorette is now the sought-after prize for many a young suitor. In fact, young, eligible suitors travel from other countries to win her hand in marriage. Portia knows who she…

    • 1196 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    The Merchant of Venice by the great writer William Shakespeare of the nineteenth century portrays the male, Christian dominated society and where women’s rights and other religions are highly rejected by the community. Also this lies on revenge, greediness of individuals’ in the society where they would take the life of a human in order to pursue one’s thought. However, the character of Portia is emphasized as a rich, beautiful, who has been previously controlled by men, triumph as she…

    • 1950 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In contrast to Viola, Portia shows a remarkable level of decisiveness, even in situations where she would be expected to give up any form of control. This is not clear from the beginning; in fact, it initially appears that she is even more passive than Viola. When she is introduced, she does not dream of defying her father’s orders to have her suitors win her over by picking the correct casket. She does complain about it, however. She laments the fact that she is bound by her father’s game and…

    • 1314 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Portia spider is known for its remarkable abilitys to learn and problem solve. Due to this spiders magnificent capabilities, the Portia spider has developed a unique hunting behavior belonging only to its’ species. The inspiration for the Portia’s spiders name came from William Shakespeare's heroine from the Merchant of Venice, Portia. She too demonstrates extraordinary intelligence and the ability to learn. The two are alike in mind, goals, trickery, and even the underestimation of their…

    • 581 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Write a critical note on the contrast of women characters used in the Merchant of Venice. Merchant of Venice is one of Williams Shakespeare comedy play or story written somewhere between the 1596 and 1598. This essay will mainly focus on each role of the women characters characteristics in the merchant of Venice. The female roles are consistently more complex than the male ones and even though the protagonists are often the male role, the action is frequently directed by a…

    • 1241 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    argued about the role of justice and mercy in The Merchant of Venice. One of the largest interpretations of the role of justice and mercy is that Portia represents mercy seen in Christianity while Shylock demonstrates the emphasis on justice seen in Judaism. Rather than emphasizing one religion over another, Shakespeare utilizes Portia and Shylock to demonstrate how both concepts of justice and mercy can be utilized for self-seeking purposes in The Merchant of Venice. The interactions between…

    • 2243 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Merchant of Venice typically is deemed to be “a tragedy.” However, the play is similarly meeting the classification gauge of a romantic comedy. Looking at the issue of romance, the play revolves around Bassanio, who is the Venice suitor and Portia, the heiress from Belmont. Bassanio attains some finance in the form of loan from his friend, Antonio that he utilizes to pursue Portia. On the other hand, the merchant, Antonio takes such loan on behalf of Bassanio from Shylock. An agreement made…

    • 1086 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice, love and money are core themes which dictate not only the relationships of characters but the motivations of characters as well. Love and money become so interlaced in this play, that the independent existence of one without the other becomes an impossibility. Through Jessica and Lorenzo, Antonio and Bassanio, and Portia and Bassanio, money comes to play an integral part of every relationship and action of each major player. This relationship becomes clearly…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Throughout the play, “The Merchant of Venice,” Shakespeare utilizes the theme of duplicity, and the misperception of people. “The Merchant of Venice” is a play about a Merchant, named Antonio who has a friend named Bassanio. He needs to borrow money to marry a wealthy beautiful maiden named Portia. To get this money Antonio has to get a loan from a jew named Shylock. Throughout the play, characters that used duplicity, affected the outcome of the plot by changing it in a way to work in their…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Previous
    Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 11